The third “Bicycle safe passage” operation is on this week in New York City

Bicyclists riding in New York City have an increased risk of being injured or dying in a bike accident when a car or a truck is blocking their bike lane. The cyclists have to merge into traffic to pass the vehicle blocking the bike lane therefore increasing their risk of being struck by another vehicle. People who are commuting by bike in New York City are facing this problem on a daily basis. Bicyclist advocates have been voicing their complaints about this dangerous matter on regular basis and the NYPD listened to them. This spring the “Bicycle Safe Passage” enforcement initiative was launched. The idea of the initiative is that over several periods of one week during the year the NYPD would focus on ticketing all vehicles blocking the bike lanes or not yielding to bicyclists. This week marks the third week of the operation for this year. During the previous operation last month, the police ticketed 1,757 motorists blocking the bike lane and 810 who didn’t yield to bicyclists. However according to Streetblog, police were also ticketing bicyclists rather than focusing their effort on protecting them.